Asylum-seeker children 'behind wire'

The federal government is breaching its own policy against holding asylum-seeker children behind wire, according to Greens leader Christine Milne.

About 125 unaccompanied boys have been transferred from other Australian immigration facilities to the secure Pontville centre, on a rural plain outside Hobart.

A spokeswoman for the outgoing Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, told Fairfax on Friday: ''Children in detention are never kept 'behind wire' under this government.''

But Ms Milne said she visited Pontville, and found the boys were behind high fences.

''It's an incredibly secure complex,'' Ms Milne said on Monday. ''It's a prison. They cannot leave. It is totally in contravention of the government's policy.''

Ms Milne said the mainly Afghan Hazara boys aged 14 to 17 should be allowed to go out into the community, to attend school and meet other children their own age. ''These boys need to normalise,'' she said.

Mr Bowen's spokeswoman said Pontville, which also held 44 single adult males, had been re-designated from an Immigration Detention Centre to an Alternative Place Of Detention.

''An APOD differs from an IDC in that security is appropriately reduced and there are specialised children's service providers,'' she said.

The Refugee Council of Australia said the distinction between IDCs and APODs was blurred.

''The Immigration Department needs to ensure young people are moved quickly out of detention,'' council chief executive, Paul Power, said.